Notes

Visited: November 20, 2001

Opened: 1996

Closed: 2001

Annual Production: 230 bbl

Finally! More than eight years of homebrewing, four years of unemployment, the fiasco on Moloka`i (which continues to this day), and the eight-week Professional Brewer Certification Program at the Siebel Institute of Technology have paid off. I brewed most of the beers listed here, so my reviews are probably even less objective than the others. (Although some people say I'm harder on my own beers. Maybe you should just drink them yourself and make up your own mind.)

Egan's was established in 1996 as a microbrewery to produce bottled beers for the Hansen's Dairy Store next door. We added a bar in 1997, and a restaurant in 1998 to become a full-blown brewpub. Then in April 2000, Nick Egan entered a partnership with the Gallagher's folks whereby the restaurant became "Gallagher's of De Pere", and the brewery went back to being a micro only. Now Hansen's is getting out of the beer business, so I don't bottle anymore, and 80% of my production is still sold over the bar at Gallagher's of De Pere, so I guess it's a lot like being a brewpub anyway.

Unfortunately, without a dedicated restaurant, there just isn't a demand for packaged craft beer in and around Green Bay. The relationship with Gallagher's didn't work out the way we had hoped, and so the Egan family decided to close their brewery on September 30, 2001.

Beer List

Overall Impression (3)Red-amber, low head. Malty, woody aroma, with some honey. Thick, chewy, malty, some caramel. Lots of warming alcohol at the end. I think the honey prevented this beer from aging quite as well as it might have. Brewed in June 1999.

Overall Impression (3)Yellow, some haze, moderate head and carbonation. Strong malt aroma. Medium body, malty but dry. Hint of banana, a little grainy, but mainly malty. Sweetish malty finish. I had planned to ferment this with a more authentic yeast strain, but a brew-day accident forced me to use the house yeast instead. The recipe came from our Requiem Trippel, the last batch we brewed at home in Hawaii.

Overall Impression (3)Bright amber with a hint of brown, high carbonation, thick head. Mild citrusy fruity hop aroma from the Willamette dry-hop. Light body, big toasty malt flavor with fruity hops. Bitterness grows through the finish. Good clean beer. Alcohol is not as noticeable as in the cask version, but still too high.

Overall Impression (3)(This is the new "light" version I developed for the Bud/Miller Lite crowd. It's basically the old recipe, with everything cut back 30%.) Pale, some haze, moderate carbonation, thick head. Smells faintly malty, with some honey aroma. Very light body, fairly high carbonation, very very mild malt flavor, no finish at all.

Overall Impression (3)Amber, some haze, moderate carbonation, thick head. Citrusy hop aroma with a faint hint of peppers. Medium body, hop flavor at first, then a real nice taste of the peppers. Very mild heat turns up in the finish. Good pepper flavor with not a lot of heat. To make this beer, I simply added some peppers to Chuck's Famous Ale post-fermentation.

Overall Impression (3½)Deep red, still, hazy with tiny floating bits. Smells like semi-sweet chocolate chips, with some dark fruit undertones. Big chewy body, very low carbonation. Hugely malty, with lots of dark caramel. Hints of raisins and plums. Mildly alcoholic finish. I filled twelve 7-ounce bottles from the last keg of this beer back in 1998; I intend to sample one bottle per year until it's either undrinkable or gone.

Overall Impression (3½)Deep red, moderate head. Malty, oaky, faintly smoky aroma. Thick, chewier than the 1999. Big maltiness, good caramel flavor. I'll be very disappointed if this doesn't age into an outstanding beer by the end of this year. Brewed in August 2000.

Overall Impression (3)Brownish amber, clear, thick head. Very malty aroma, with a big hop background. Medium-big body, very malty but not all that sweet. Very mild bitterness in the middle. Big smooth malty finish.

Overall Impression (3)Deep golden, moderate carbonation, beautiful thick white head. Mildly estery, fairly malty, faintly spicy aroma. Medium body, smooth alcohol character, sweet malty flavor, fairly spicy in the middle. Smooth, dangerous beer. Many thanks to guest brewer Dan Rogers for bringing his recipe to Egan's! This is an excellent beer, but I had the privilege of sampling a couple of bottle of his original homebrewed batch, and it blew this one away.

Overall Impression (2½)Deep deep red, good head. Malty sweet aroma. Thick, roasty, obvious buckwheat honey flavor, especially in the finish. Finishes pretty sweet, with lots of honey flavor. This was an experimental batch based on our Eganator Doppelbock in which I replaced about 20% of the malt with buckwheat honey. I'm pretty happy with the results.

Overall Impression (3)Dark brown amber, thick head. Caramel malt aroma. Medium-heavy body, nice caramel flavor with a moderate bitterness that builds through the finish. Gets sweeter at the end. This was supposed to be an IPA, but after it was already in the fermenter, I realized that I had severely underhopped it . Still, it's not a bad beer.

Overall Impression (3)Amber-brown, some haze, thick head. Malty, grainy aroma, a little roasty. Medium-big body, huge malt flavor with a hint of roastiness and a nice touch of hops in the finish. Lingering malty aftertaste. Egan's own Justin Ritter came up with the name...he notes:

I love to see the name Steinworthy in print on the Web!!! I feel I have actually contributed something to the brewing world. Like Steve Martin said in "The Jerk"..."I'm somebody".

Overall Impression (2½)Hazy yellow-amber, massive head. INTENSE thyme aroma. INTENSE thyme flavor. Tastes like a pizza. Medium-light body. I don't like this beer for the same reason I don't like most fruit beers: it doesn't taste like beer. Spiced in the kettle 10 ounces of thyme and 6 ounces of coriander in 3½ barrels.

Overall Impression (2)Golden, hazy, moderate head. Malty sweet aroma, with more than a hint of banana, and mild hops. Light body, fairly big noble hop flavor, very mild bitterness. Malty finish with some banana flavor. (The second and third kegs were MUCH better...the first one obviously had a wild yeast infection.)